Stripes: A Fashionable intrigue of lines

In my previous newsletter, we have learnt all about the history of stripes as a print on clothes and their impact in vintage cinema. Read here if you haven’t read it yet. Now I’d like to share about the iconic use of stripes by fashion designers from the 60s to the 90s.

In this design by Sonya Rykiel, we see a very interesting use of the stripes woven into the knitting pattern giving an illusion of stripes being used as a print.

For a historical insight, that trompe l’oeil effect was first used by avant garde designer Elsa Schiaparelli in 1927 with her jumper with the striped traditional nautical bib woven into the knitting also. It’s interesting how Sonya Rykiel inspired from that idea and made it somewhat poetic as if the stripes were barb wires in a field in from of which were flowers.

Stripes as an expression of playful youth for Sonya Rikiel

During the 60s, stripes are bold and fun for a youth wanting to express themselves through fashion. Sonia Rykiel was one of the first designers to really experiment with stripes in the early 60s. One of her first pieces was a simple but eccentric and very feminine with tones of pinks and red colourful striped top that became a hit with the international press and ended up on the cover of Elle France in 1963 modelled by the famous French singer and icon Françoise Hardy!

Stripes as well as knitwear became a full part of Sonia Rykiel’s statement style and artistic direction. She did so, playing with tradition and modernity for this show referring back to the French sailor origins of stripes mixed with vibrant colours and unique combinations.

Iconic contrast of black and white stripes

For designers, stripes are a ground of endless experimentations and creativity. It’s actually interesting how such a simple basic pattern of repeated stripes allows such a multitude of interpretations and styles.

“Stripes are a fashion mainstay, style’s favourite print with a decade-long history as a shorthand for chic” according to Vogue.

There was a big emphasis on stripes in the fashion world during the late 80s/90s with all the high end designers using them for luxury brands such as Valentino Garavani, Jean Paul Gaultier, Miuccia Prada, Paul Smith for their eponymous brands, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Gianfranco Ferré and then later on John Galliano for Dior and many more. Below I have created a collage to emphasis on the diverse uses of black and white stripes in fashion at the time, from discreet elegant stripes to loud statement stripes.

Stripes can be rebellious, subversive, or emblematic, through their lines they can retrace history and serve different narrations. Let’s see how some of the designers mentioned above have their own interpretation of stripes.

Summery beach 50s inspired stripes for Miuccia Prada

For Miuccia Prada, stripes are for summery days at the beach with a strong reference to the 50s matching swimsuit/skirts and the large red stripes found on tanning beds on the beaches.

From beach to town chic maxi stripes for Chanel

For Chanel, stripes are maxi, black and white and used with excess on one’s clothing as well as jackets. The stripes are to be worn from the beach to town with a chic golden bucked belt.

It’s interesting how we can see a strong parallel between shows with wide horizontal black and white stripes and a matching horizontal striped back drop for Chanel for their SS 1991 collection and then the opposite on Valentino’s SS 1992 collection with wide vertical black and white stripes and a matching vertical striped backdrop.

Structural vertical stripes for Valentino

On the contrary of the Chanel show 1991, for Valentino stripes are vertical and are a way to elongate the feminine figure, accentuate her curves and turn her into an iconic glamorous creature in an almost statuesque way. He doesn’t get enough of black and white stripes in his Spring Summer 1992 show and uses them on his dresses as well as for the backdrop.

Historic shipwrecked imaginary stripes for Galliano

For Galliano, stripes take us on an imaginative historic journey back to days of pirates at sea as we see his models theatrically swagger down the aisle as “shipwrecked marauders in worn frock coats” according to Vogue. The dresses are ripped off at the bottom to give the illusion of being ravaged, and yet we can see how they are made in a sumptuous high quality silk. The red and yellow stripes remind me of the Spanish flag, as if he was also referring to the Spanish conquistadores or something of the sort.

He goes even further and uses the “Stars and Stripes” American flag for which the stripes originally were a symbol of Freedom.

Demure stripes of old money class for Dior

For Dior, Gianfranco Ferré designs stripes as if they were for the old money women a way of showing undeniable class and confidence. So much confidence that they dare to wear stripes from head to toe including accessories. Those are not maxi though, these are very elegantly thin stripes placed vertically to have a slimming and lengthening effect and they are placed diagonally forming triangles on the top.

Towards the end of the show, stripes become more arty using texture and shapes in a very interesting way for an optical illusion effect.

An interesting fashion history fact is that the same year 1996, John Galliano (who we have seen above) with his rock 'n' roll spirit and sense of extravagance,replaced Gianfranco Ferré as the art director of Dior and completely reinvented the Dior haute couture tradition by fusing it with his dreamlike imagination and making radical changes to the classic and classy feminine old money image of Dior by Ferré and all the previous designers.

Who would have thought such a simple pattern as just two lines in different colours put next to each other and repeated could have such an array of styles, expressivity and meanings for different designers just as well as movie directors ?

I found it passionately interesting to do all this research about the history of stripes in our culture, in vintage cinema and in high end fashion and I hope you had just as much pleasure reading it !

All the best,

Have a great weekend,

Jamila